"Art
is both the taking and giving of beauty; the turning out to the light the inner
folds of the awareness of the spirit. It is the recreation on another plane of
the realities of the world; the tragic and wonderful realities of earth and men,
and of all the inter-relations of these."~Ansel Adams

Sunday, July 10, 2011

I may also be going on a radio show as a guest - when I know the details I will post them. I was on WPLR for the Chaz and AJ show about a year and a half ago, and I am looking forward to another opportunity to use my skills on the radio. For those of you who have been following the show every Sunday, you know I am getting ready to host my own show and am looking to find a station.

BRIDGEPORT — The Rev. Alicia Folberth, “priestess president” of the Panthean Temple in Derby, shuffled her tarot cards Tuesday evening and read into the fate of a new movie theater/comedy club/music venue set to open in Bijoux Square.
The blonde-haired clairvoyant, who discovered her supernatural abilities when a vision struck her as a 3 year old, knocking her to the ground — an occurrence she’d have to learn to deal with in her younger years – said the facility at 275 Fairfield Ave. “may start a little bit slow, but I think it’s going to change the area — totally.”
UPDATE: The motion before the ZBA — for the theater to have a bar, within 1,500 feet of other liquor establishments — passed with conditions. More info coming on what the conditions are…

Movie theater in downtown Bridgeport nearing debut

Tim Loh, Staff Writer
Updated 12:02 a.m., Wednesday, June 15, 2011

BRIDGEPORT -- Coming soon to a downtown near you -- a movie theater, comedy club and concert venue all wrapped into one.
On Tuesday evening, Phil Kuchma, the developer behind the Bijou Square apartments and commercial space on Fairfield Avenue, requested from the Zoning Board of Appeals a variance to allow the soon-to-open facility at 275 Fairfield Ave. to operate a bar during shows.
"This will be a great attraction for more people to come downtown," he said. "People will come downtown when there's a reason to come."
The theater will reopen the 101-year-old facility, which is the country's oldest "movie house," built strictly for showing films, Kuchma said.
The ZBA had not voted on the variance request as of late Tuesday evening.
Christine Brown, one of three partners behind the project, said Tuesday the theater should hold up to 202 people with a mix of cinema seating and cabaret-style chairs and tables.
It will show mostly independent movies, but also classics, she said. The partners are hoping to offer stand-up comedy, music and other performing arts as well.
"And of course," Brown said, "we hope to have many special events in the property, whether it's organizations' fundraisers or things like that."
The full-service bar, she said, would operate during all the shows and movies.
A Bridgeport native, Brown has worked as an attorney in the city for 17 years. She wouldn't reveal much about her two partners, except that they aren't city residents. "And we're all movie buffs," she said.
The trio plans to make a formal announcement about the theater's opening date sometime next week. As of Tuesday night, a yellow poster still hung in the theater's window, saying, "Opening Summer 2011."
On hearing details about the theater, local residents and frequenters of the Bijou Square's handful of businesses Tuesday night sounded bullish.
"It's going to be exciting, whatever it is," said Ryan, a 27-year-old who was out walking his dog. He moved into the block in December, he said, but still finds it quieter than he had expected. "Whatever it is, it'll be better than what we have now," said Ryan, who did not wish to give his last name.
Cynthia Gaspar, who opened Moda Studio, a unisex hair salon on the block in May, said that customers have been asking her at least twice a day about the theater. "Just an hour ago," said Gaspar, a former Shelton resident who moved into the block in December, "a guy getting a haircut asked when it's opening."
Next door, at Two Boots Pizza, the Rev. Alicia Folberth, "priestess president" of the Panthean Temple in Derby, was shuffling her tarot cards by the door.
Folberth was 3 years old when her first vision "knocked her on the floor," she said; she has been setting up shop in Two Boots on Tuesdays and Fridays since February. Asked if she would lend her soothsaying skills to read the theater's fate, she agreed without asking for the customary $20.
Carefully, she flipped over a dozen cards, studied them a moment, and then said, "It's looking very good."
The bottom card said "death," which actually signifies rebirth, she noted.
The ace of swords, which landed center right, she called a harbinger of "triumph."
The final card, the ace of wands, bespeaks "power, momentum and manifestation," she said.
"It may start a little bit slow," Folberth concluded. "But I think it's going to change this area -- totally."
Reach Tim Loh at tloh@ctpost.com or 203-330-6377. Follow at twitter.com/timloh